Six Minutes
by TheLastDragonLord
Summary: Juliet had to go on a date with Gus at that speed-dating event, too. They bond over the X-Men. Mostly just a Gus/Juliet friendship fic, but it is a tiny bit shippy. Barest traces of Shules.


A/N: It's always kind of bugged me that in "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, Oops! He's Dead" (wow, talk about a long title) they showed Juliet's speed-dates with Lassiter and Shawn, but not Gus. I mean, he was undercover too, so he had a mini-date with her at some point, yet they didn't feel it was important enough to write in. I've always felt that the friendship between these two had a lot of potential, especially since in "Shawn vs. The Red Phantom" it's revealed that they're both major nerds. Anyway, this note's way too long now, so enjoy!

Oh, one more thing! The movie they discuss is actually X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Remember, this story is set in 2006, so Days of Future Past hadn't come out yet. Just to clarify. :)

**Six Minutes**

This whole speed-dating thing really wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and it wasn't even cracked up to be all that much in the first place. Gus tried to stifle the yawn building up inside of him as his current date yakked on about her waitressing job. From her slight pause and irritated look, he'd failed. Whoops. He couldn't even bring himself to care all that much. After all, a sly glance at his watch told him there was only a minute left of the date. Gus schooled his features into a mock expression of interest, which seemed to work a little bit in placating the woman.

The sad thing was, this wasn't even the worst of all the dates he'd been on that night. There was an aspiring actress who would probably never get cast in any speaking roles with her nasally voice, then there had been the BDSM girl who had told him all about her sex life, in great detail, despite Gus's protests, and finally there was a sullen-looking girl who was apparently only there because her mom forced her to go, and who refused to respond to any of Gus's attempts at conversation. All leading up to the current: Girl #4, the waitress whose only real bad quality was how boring she was. Gus amused himself by knowing that Shawn and Lassiter would both have to endure all the same tortures as he had.

He could feel his eyelids drooping when the bell rang, bringing sweet relief. With luck, the next girl would prove to be more interesting. Gus stood and glanced around for an empty seat with a new date. His eyes landed on a bored-looking Juliet, alone. He nearly cried in relief and made for the table before anyone else could claim the chair across from her.

As he sat, Juliet looked up with trepidation which melted into a smile as she recognized Gus.

"Oh, thank God," she moaned. "You would not believe how bad my dates have been. I am so happy to see a familiar face!"

Gus smiled. "No luck for you either?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "Not for the case or just conversation in general. Although two of the last four guys seemed to be having very stimulating discussions with my _breasts_."

Gus nodded in sympathy. "Though really," he added, "this was to be expected. I mean, when you stoop to speed dating?"

Juliet scoffed. "Yeah, you can't get dates on your own, so you force twenty other people to talk to you all night? Seems a little desperate."

He laughed and they fell into a short, surprisingly comfortable silence.

"So, seen the new X-Men movie?"

Juliet's eyes lit up as she smiled wide. "Duh! Like two days after it came out!"

"Two words: opening night." Gus grinned smugly.

"I wanted to go to the premiere so bad but I had to work. Did you go with Shawn?"

He scoffed. "Please. You saw how he acted during the Malone Breyfogle case. He thinks all comic books and corresponding movie adaptations are lame."

"Well, it's his loss! I wouldn't say this last installment was my favorite, but it was pretty awesome."

Gus nodded. "In terms of favorites, I'd go with the second one."

"Oh, of course! And what about your favorite mutant?"

Damn. Girl liked the tough questions.

"I always respected Beast. Dr. McCoy. He was peaceful in his attempts to win over the humans, but he still kicked ass when he had to."

Juliet giggled and Gus felt a small surge of pride. That was the first time he had made her laugh. Just him, not Shawn. He could tell why Shawn was always trying to, though. Juliet's laugh was really cute...

No. Nope. Stop right there, Guster. Not another word. Your best friend is totally into this girl and thoughts like that are not allowed.

Mentally slapping himself, Gus continued. "What about you?"

"I personally like Nightcrawler the best."

His brow furrowed. An unexpected response. "Really? You strike me as a Wolverine girl."

"Ha, no. I mean, yeah, Wolverine's great, but I really like Nightcrawler because... no, it's stupid."

Well, now he _had_ to know. "What?"

She sighed and kept her eyes down. "I like him because he didn't let all the hatred affect him, you know? Even though, as a mutant, he was looked down upon, he wasn't resentful and cold like some other mutants. He still liked humans and he kept his faith, which was really admirable. And... well, sometimes I wish I were a bit more like that. In my line of work, you see a lot, stuff you don't want to see. It's dark and intense and full of hate and... I don't wanna grow bitter because of it, like Carlton. I wanna keep my faith in humanity."

Whoa. That was a much deeper answer than he'd been expecting. Juliet was frowning now, still keeping her eyes on the table.

"Juliet," he started, not sure what to say, "you are probably the most positive person I know. You're cheerful and really sweet. You don't have to worry about being bitter, cause you're not."

She looked up and softly returned his hesitant smile. As she opened her mouth to reply, the obnoxious woman in charge of the event slowed as she passed them.

"Well!" she trilled. "Isn't this going well? I smell a connection!"

She left to pester other couples as Gus and Juliet sat in a now-awkward silence, not looking at each other.

"Uh," he began, "I think-"

Ding! The bell shrilled, signaling the end of the date. Gus gave an apologetic smile and he stood to go.

"See you later." Juliet waved goodbye, smiling.

A/N: Please review and tell me how I did!


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